Jesse Ventura on Immigration

Former Independent MN Governor

Great Wall of China failed; so will the Great Wall of the US

I went to China on a trade mission, and climbed the Great Wall of Beijing. Which had sparked my contemplating the "great wall" that the US is planning to build between us and Mexico, as a supposed answer to illegal immigration. By the end of '08, about
670 miles are supposed to be completed along our southwestern border. Why is it we don't see that if you don't learn from history you're destined to repeat it? The Great Wall of China did not work. The most formidable barrier ever built by mankind--
and it failed! In 1644, the Chinese were overrun and now the Great Wall is nothing but a tourist attraction. At least their Great Wall is an architectural wonder that people built by hand, all day long, many of them living and dying there.
So I hope they end up making our "great wall" tourist friendly. I tell Terry that, when it gets built, I'm gonna find where it's on public land and I'm gonna cross it into Mexico, in protest. I don't want my country to be East Berlin.

Immigration is an integral part of who we are

Immigration is nowhere near the catastrophe the more vocal segments of the Right want you to believe it is. Because they’re opposed to immigration, many of the folks on the far Right would like for you to believe that our country is being overrun with
indigent Mexicans and Haitians, which is simply not true. America has always been a nation of immigrants. Yes, we do have to uphold a fair and sensible policy where immigration is concerned. But immigration is an integral part of who we are.

Source: Do I Stand Alone, by Jesse Ventura, p. 50
, Jul 2, 2000

Official English leads to Official Christianity

In spite of the fact that the Constitution is very clear about this, there are still people among the Religious Right who are pushing to have Christianity declared the official state and national religion. They can make some halfway decent arguments for
making English the official language, so why not extend that to religion? They point to the decline of our nation’s morals and they claim that Christian discipline would raise the moral standard of this country. They argue that the Founding Fathers were
Christian, so why shouldn’t the nation be?

Sure, most of the Founding Fathers were Christian, but so what? They had the perfect opportunity to establish Christianity as the national religion, and they chose not to. In fact, they strictly forbade it.

Religious authority alone can be vastly powerful. Couple that with the power of government, and you’ve created a monster [of potential corruption]. The separation of church and state deters both institutions from corruption by cutting their power in half

Emergency medical, but no other services, for illegal imms.

Illegal immigration is just that, illegal. We owe those individuals who are illegally in the US emergency medical treatment when it is needed, but no education benefits, financial assistance or other benefits that all legal immigrants and US citizens
are entitled to. American citizens pay for their benefits through taxes illegal immigrants do not. If we provide free services to illegal immigrants, our actions encourage and support illegal activity, rather than discourage or punish it.

Grant legal immigrants all benefits of citizens

Legal immigrants should be granted all of the benefits the United States has to offer. The United States encouraged or granted these individuals the right to reside in our country, we should make them welcome. That is not to say that legal immigrants
should be given a free ride, they should know in advance, that when they come to the United States, they are expected to work and support themselves, just as natural-born citizens are expected to do.

Share costs of legal immigration between states & federal.

Ventura adopted the National Governors Association policy:

The Governors urge Congress to consider the following principles regarding immigration policies.

The decision to admit immigrants is a federal one that carries with it a firm federal commitment to shape immigration policy within the parameters of available resources we as a nation are determined to provide.

The fiscal impact of immigration decisions must be addressed by the federal government. The states, charged with implementing federal policy, have shared and are sharing in the costs; however, there should be no further shift of costs to the states.

A basic responsibility of the federal government is to collect and disseminate timely and reliable statistical information on immigration and its consequences for the United States.

Federal immigration policies should ensure that new immigrants do not become a public charge to federal, state, or local governments.

The federal government must provide adequate information to and consult with states on issues
concerning immigration decisions that affect the states.

States should not have to incur significant costs in implementing federal laws regarding immigration status as a condition of benefits.

The Governors urge the following regarding Legalization and Naturalization:

States require maximum flexibility in determining and allocating resources to meet the needs of newly legalized aliens.

The Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) must be diligent in its efforts to ensure that felons are not naturalized and being given the benefits of citizenship rather than being deported.

The naturalization process should be streamlined to be more efficient and accessible to eligible applicants wishing to become citizens, with all the rights and responsibilities thereof.

The INS must take aggressive action to eliminate the backlog of naturalization applications, which is now approximately 800,000 nationwide.

Federal government should deal with criminal repatriation.

Ventura adopted the National Governors Association policy:

[Regarding illegal immigration], the Governors continue to call on the federal government to negotiate and renegotiate prisoner transfer treaties to expedite the transfer of criminal aliens in the United States who are subject to deportation or removal. The negotiations for such agreements should focus on:

ensuring that the transferred prisoners serve the balance of their state-imposed prison sentence;

removing any requirement that the prisoners consent to be transferred to their countries of origin;

structuring the process to require that the prisoners serve the remainder of their original prison sentence if they return to the United States; and

considering economic incentives to encourage countries of origin to take back their criminal citizens.

Additionally, the Governors believe the federal government should:

increase the use of interior repatriation with countries contiguous to the United States;

place INS officials in state and local facilities for early identification of potentially deportable aliens - nearer the point of their illegal entry - to ensure formal deportation prior to release; and

upon the request of a state Governor, place INS officers in state courts to assist in the identification of criminal aliens pending criminal prosecution.

Finally, the Governors are concerned about the large number of deported felons that are returning to the United States. A significant number of the criminal alien felons housed in state prisons and local jails are previously convicted felons who reentered the United States after they were deported. The Governors urge the federal government to provide sufficient funds for proven positive identification systems, like the Automated Fingerprinting Identification System (AFIS), to allow for the expanded use of these systems in the rest of the nation.

Ease Canadian border-crossing rules.

WHEREAS, the United States and Canada share the longest undefended border in the world; and

WHEREAS, the United States and Canada have the largest bilateral trade relationship in the world, exceeding $1 billion every day; and

WHEREAS, the rate of cross-border traffic is steadily increasing, with billions of dollars worth of goods and tens of millions of American and Canadian citizens crossing the land border each year; and

WHEREAS, Section 110 of the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996 requires the U.S. Attorney General to develop an automated entry-exit control system to register “all aliens” entering and departing the United States; and

WHEREAS, this system will place an unmanageable requirement on border-crossing services, impose serious delays at the Canada-U.S. land border and result in unintended negative consequences for international trade, tourism, and the economies in our region; and

WHEREAS, reports about serious congestion at the Canada-U.S. border have generated concern and uncertainty in the business community; and

WHEREAS, the United States Senate has passed the Commerce-State-Justice Appropriations Bill and State Department Reauthorization legislation which repeal the entry-exit control system required by Section 110; now therefore be it

RESOLVED, that the Midwestern Governors’ Conference calls on Congress and the President to repeal Section 110 because of the its adverse impact on legitimate cross border traffic at land border points of entry.